Preparing for future disasters in Broome County

Binghamton, NY (WBNG Binghamton) After the flood of 2006, a local group emerged to help prepare Broome County for disasters. On Tuesday night, they celebrated being funded for the next five years.

Broome County Community Organizations Active in Disaster, or Broome County COAD, celebrated the renewed funding from the Harriet Ford Dickensen Fund of the Community Foundation for South Central New York.

Shelbi DuBord, the director of Broome County COAD, said they will use some of that money during National Disaster Preparedness month in September, like a tabletop conversation about preparing and reacting to disasters in the Southern Tier.

"The tabletop exercise will bring together a lot of stakeholders in the community who would have a role in disaster response and we would role play what to do in the event of a disaster," DuBord said.

DuBord adds that people need to be prepared for a disaster at all times.

"One third of people do not prepare for disaster because they think that first responders will be able to help them, but in a major scale like flood or disaster like we've had, there isn't enough people to get to you in an amount of time that is what you would need," DuBord said.

The organization helped with recovery from the 2006 and 2011 flooding, and also assisted with the ACA shooting in 2009.

Tuesday night's reception was also held to recruit new members and add to the six currently active members.

Each person who came to the event went home with a disaster preparedness kit.